Charles's Man
by Shanynde
Summary: A year after DOFP, Erik and Hank have a conversation. Includes death threats, accusations and name calling. All in all, a regular conversation between the Beast and Magneto.


Nearly a year had passed since Erik had tried to kill the President, his cabinet and announced to the world that mutants existed and it was their destiny to overthrow the human population. Since then, Hank felt that he had been running and never had a moment to rest. After Erik and Raven disappeared, Charles and Hank set up the school. Alex had returned with one of his army buddies named Spike. Using Cerebro, the four of them began to find mutant children who needed a refuge from the hatred and fear of the world. Raven would drop in whenever she found a child who had been abandoned. Charles was acting more alive than he had in years, finally, he had hope.

It was nearly 10 in the evening. Hank had his blue skin on. He felt it was appropriate to show the students that he was mutant and proud. Raven had taught him that. He was in courtyard doing the final walkthrough before he would lock up. He picked up a basketball, some of the students had been playing earlier. When he looked up, he saw that Erik, or Magneto was standing in front of him.

"Hello, Hank." He said.

Reacting instinctively, Hank punched Erik's face. Erik fell backwards and Hank bared his teeth and snarled, placing himself in a fighting position.

"What was that for?" Erik looked surprised, as if he had just popped over for afternoon tea.

Hank suppressed the urge to strangle him. "You tried to kill me," he said hoping that those words would clear up any misconception of the root of Hank's anger.

"No, I didn't."

"You sent a Sentinel at me and said do what it were made for. I'm pretty sure that constitutes attempted murder."

"Hank," Erik said exasperated, "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Besides, you did try to drown me."

"You shot Raven."

"Her name is Mystique."

"You were trying to kill her, I had to stop you."

"At the cost of exposing yourself to the world?" Erik laughed sarcastically, "You always did try to hide your powers."

"I use the serum to project an image. Not everyone can have a power and appear human. Can you imagine me going to the store with this fur?"

"Hilarious is the word I would choose."

"Ha ha." It was clear that Hank was losing patience. "Charles is in the study. Please ensure that the students do not see you."

"Ashamed of me?" Erik asked him mockingly as he stood up.

Hank fixed Erik a hard glare. "No, most of the students are terrified of you. One of the girls has nightmares of you killing her parents because they aren't mutants. Many believe that you're a terrorist and you gave humans a reason to fear us."

"And what do you believe?" he asked quietly.

Hank looked at Erik confused. "Why does it matter? I assume you are here to talk to Charles, not me."

"I do need to speak to Charles. However, you have been involved since the start and are one of the most intelligent individuals I know. Arguments and murder attempts aside, I care to know your opinion."

"No." Hank snarled, "You have a bit of a temper and tend to get angry with those who don't agree with you."

Erik's eyes bore into Hank. "You have one opportunity to say what you want and I will not lose control. You have my word."

Hank's eyebrows raised. Alright, if that meant that Erik would leave, fine. "You have a tendency to shoot first and think later. Your actions put too many of us at risk. Charles, Alex and I cannot save every mutant that is now being hunted. You should have thought about the consequences of your actions."

"My actions were for the greater good," Erik countered.

"But that isn't the worst thing." Hank continued on, ignoring Erik's interruption. "Raven and Charles have nearly died by your hand-twice now. Erik, they were your friends, your family. Raven was begging you not to shoot her."

Hank shook his head, "You say you want the greater good and you are willing to sacrifice Charles for it. I've seen your control, and twice now you have allowed Charles to be seriously injured. What happens when your greater good requires Charles's death? I did not keep him alive for a decade to watch him die now."

"I wouldn't call your actions lifesaving." Erik interrupted. He obviously had some opinions on Charles's choices. "You enabled him, made him lose his powers and turned him into a drug addict." Erik became angry. "You allowed him to hide to be a shadow of the man that I knew. You gave him the means to lose his powers."

"And that is something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life! I'm not proud of it, I feel the guilt of what I allowed daily. But you were not there, Erik. You don't get to pass judgment on him or me. Yes, I enabled him and allowed him to fall deeper into an abyss of depression. You can blame me for all that, but you never saw him with a gun to his head!"

Hank took a deep breath and allowed himself to morph back into the human version of himself. He picked up his glasses and began to clean them. He was silent for a few moments, he refused to look at Erik. When he finally did, he saw that Erik was pale. It was as if he had never considered how close Charles's had come to death.

"It was after Alex and the others left. The day before I had to go register, I received a letter. The Army rejected me, later I found out that someone had registered a Hank McCoy, fitting my exact description. Turns out I "had" a broken lung and was unable to serve. There is only one person who could do that."

"Mystique," Erik muttered.

"I'm grateful to her. She didn't have to do that, but she did. I went to tell Charles that I was rejected, but when I opened the door," he paused, the memory engraved in his mind, "he was drunk and high and depressed. He had the gun, you remember," he looked at Erik, "the one that you told him to shoot you with when we were training. It was pointed at his brain. He was shaking and crying but determined. He hadn't slept in weeks. He wanted the pain to stop. A bullet in his head was the one way he thought it would." He stopped. The rest of the memory was too painful. He had no desire to rehash it.

"You gave him the serum after," Erik surmised.

Hank nodded. "I promised him that I would stay and I would help him sleep. I adjusted the serum and well, you know the rest."

Erik shook his head. "I never thought that anything could break Charles."

Hank felt his eyes rolling again. "You and Raven played a part, so did Vietnam, I did, regardless, he has hope now. Whatever you are going to discuss with him, do not destroy that hope."

Erik shook his head, "I can't promise that."

"Then rest assured," Hank heard himself seriously say, "If you ever hurt him again, I will kill you."

"I don't doubt that you will try." Erik nodded and began to walk to the study. "But if you enable him again, I will most certainly kill you."

Hank shook his head. While they disagreed on everything, they were united in their friendship with Charles. "Good night Erik. Try not to start any international incidents or kill anyone." Hank called out.

"Oh, but it is what I do best." He smiled. "Good night, Hank. I'm sure Charles will fill you in on our conversation later."

What a strange family Hank found himself in. Shaking his head, he threw the basketball into the hoop and smiled. Regardless, tomorrow would be a new day.


End file.
